


Can't Go it Alone

by Reidluver



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Snafu is a moron, but he's still fiercely protective of Eugene, somehow it doesn't blow up in their faces, the boys play therapist for each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reidluver/pseuds/Reidluver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They'd never recover by themselves. The war left them hollowed out and battered. Sometimes the only way to get back on your feet is by having someone else to lean on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Go it Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is based off the actors' portrayal in the HBO series and NOT the actual men themselves. I mean absolutely no disrespect to them.

It was a perfect Alabama afternoon. The sun was shining and a cool breeze brushed by now and again. Goldfinches chattered in the distance as cicadas buzzed. It was the kind of weather that brought a smile to one’s lips and made them grateful to be alive.

Sledge hated it. 

The redhead leaned back in the wicker chair and held back a sigh. His father, mother, and one of his mother’s friends were outside with him, having a cup of tea. Apparently, if Sledge wasn’t going to make an effort to socialize his parents were going to do it for him. The gesture was mildly touching, and Sledge knew he should be grateful that his mother was no longer badgering him to mingle with other people, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

One of his favorite books lay in his lap, a book that _Eugene_ used to forgo sleep just to get to the ending. But now . . . now it took effort to make it page to page. He had been staring at chapter five for ten minutes now, opting to instead listen to his mother and her friend. It was a testament to how bored Sledge was that he resorted to listening to the local gossip. _(But it was better to fill his head with nonsense instead of the hellish memories that were always lingering in the background. Better to listen to idle chatter than hear the roar of planes, pings of bullets ricocheting all around him, the screams of his comrades—)_

Sledge violently shook his head to clear it and closed his eyes. He focused all his attention on the voices across from him. They drowned out the war. 

"—young man to see you the other day, Doctor?" 

Sledge heard his father hum in contemplation. "No, can't say that anyone did. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was passing by the other day for an afternoon stroll and noticed this peculiar young man hovering near the edge of your property. Sickly looking, like he hadn't slept in weeks nor had a proper meal. Clean dressed though, so he weren't no vagabond. Asked if he needed an appointment but he said he didn't need to see a doctor." She paused and Sledge heard the clinking of china. "Child couldn't fool me. I tried to get him to talk some more but he left."

"Mighty peculiar indeed," his mother said. "He didn't look terribly sick, did he? Don't like the thought of something going around." 

"No, not deathly ill, but he needed something that's for sure. A woman's intuition is never wrong as you know."

"Could you describe him for me some more, Katherine?" Sledge's father asked. "Perhaps I could keep an eye out for him if the lad is too afraid to ask for help."

There was a pause and another clink of china. "Let's see. He was small, wide-eyed, with dark hair so unruly you'd want to take a brush to it. He wasn't smoking but he smelled like he had been living with ol' Patterson down the road. But the most telling thing about him is I figure he's visiting from Louisiana, because that child had an accent thicker than my son-in-law!" 

By now Sledge's eyes were wide open, and his heart beat frantically against his chest. She couldn't be—there was no _way,_ no _possible_ way! Snafu had abandoned him on the train, didn't even know where he lived. It wasn't like him to come back either. But the similarities . . .

"Eugene honey, is your heart acting up?" 

Sledge jolted from his thoughts and blinked at his mother. "What? No I'm fine, I just—" He followed her gaze and was startled to see he was clenching the armrest of his chair so tightly his arms were trembling, knuckles white. He quickly let go and picked the book up from his lap. "Just thought I heard something, that's all," he muttered. Sledge had learned that pretending to be perfectly fine only made his parents more suspicious. If he admitted to weakness every so often, it seemed to ease their mind. Probably made them believe he was finally "opening up". 

"Hmm, I didn't hear anything, but I'll be sure to keep an eye out, son." His father gave him another one of those warm, patient smiles that Sledge tried to mirror. It frustrated him that his parents had to make such an effort. They were being so supportive and never made him feel pressured to recover, but to Sledge it was taking far too long. His brother had adjusted back to civilian life with almost no effort at all and here he was two months later, still trapped in nightmares. Even Sid seemed to be doing fine, and he'd been battling in the Pacific longer than him.

By now the conversation had moved to his mother's flower garden, but Sledge was still stuck on the stranger from earlier. It was probably just coincidence, and Sledge knew he was so desperate for something, _anything_ that he was making connections where there shouldn't be but . . . 

It's not like he was doing anything else. Sledge decided he would hide on the property tomorrow and see if he could catch this mysterious stranger. After all, he couldn't spend the rest of his life sitting in a chair listening to gossip now, could he?

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, like everyone I hated how Snafu just left so I just had to fix it. Please be patient as I try to update this as soon as I can.


End file.
